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April 2014 Entry - Fitedra

Hey guys, so decided to enter this challenge, since the theme is awesome!
Lately I´ve been reading a lot of Bernard Cornwell, The Saxon Stories, a series of book with espetacular stories of the nordic culture and life. After reading many of Uthred tales, and how his life is motivated by the idea that when he dies he´ll live at Valhala.

After some days thinking, I started developing my personal version of a Nordic Hel, with some similar ideas, but with a different concept. When a person dies he is marked by the gods, as being Verodr (Worthy) or Óverodr (Unworthy).

Verodr:
The morality of Jagradr is based on the concept of value, if a person pays sacrifices to the gods, worship the earth, help their neighbors, respects his lord and is brave in combat, it proved its worth and is accepted in Fitangan, The Land of Joy. He will enjoy an eternity of rest, music, joy, no diseases or evil. Those who died in battle or combat are invited to live in Gullbord, the Golden Castle, where the thrill of battle will be present every day, all through eternity.

Overodr:
If a person has acted shamefully towards others or with malice in their actions, they are considered Óverodr, people whose values ​​are low and do not deserve respect. Cowards, thieves, betrayers, infidels, lazy, unfaithful, are some examples of Óverodr, and so they shall spend the eternity in Fitedra, regretting his actions until the end of time. Each will be judged the way you came to Fitedra, being the journey taken by the sword, fire, drowning, or disease, everyone will suffer equally, no more or less than others.

This is looking really good, Carbus, and I've always liked Nordic mythology, so the theme is great too.

It is rather hard, however, to know where you are planning on taking this map from here. What else do you plan on doing with it?

As for more constructive criticism:
--I like the forests, although they don't look too obviously like forests, at the moment

--the various icons you've used don't seem to show up too well at the size you've posted above. They look like photographic images of Nordic stave churches. In my opinion, it might look better if you went with a more abstract or runic style of icon.

--is there a reason you've used two styles of mountain? The silhouette mountains you developed for a previous map don't (in my opinion) suit this style as well, whereas the other set you use here look incredibly good.

--also on the mountains, I'm not so keen on the isolated hills/mountains that are scattered around the place. Again, it would be good to know what you are planning.

--lastly, I assume the islands around Magr Jot are meant to look craggy and rugged? If my assumption is correct, I think you might need to mix up the size and spacing of the islands more. If my assumption is wrong, don't worry about it.

I hope none of that sounded too harsh (and I presume you were inviting feedback, at this stage). As I said above, this is looking good, and I think it also has the potential too look really great.

Hey there THW! Thanks for the feedback, they don´t look harsh at all, its great to hear tips and advices!

The map is still a WIP, but my idea is to place the 6 different places of most importance and describe them at the bottom.

- Well the forests I was trying a different style, since I have time Ill try to work on something else
- For the different places I was trying a more photographic and visual style, instead of just icons, or runics. I think I´ll stick with them, but I agree that some of those require a better work, like the Houses and Castles.
- I still didn´t finish covering all the mountains, but I´m sticking with the snow covered one, and at the lave area Im still thinking of something.
- The major problem with the scaterring is to fill the map, since my hell map is not to be a land with many cities or villages, I felt the need to cover it with some elements. Nothing special, except for Magr Jot, where the idea is that the Unworthy that died drowned, are to be prisioned within the rocks.
- I agree the island now look a bit weird, especially the lines around the isles, since the idea is to have islands moving from the land.

Thanks for feedback, since it´s still the beggining of the challenge, I´ll try to improve those parts!

Well trying something new here! First of all thanks Max for the tips on fractal texture, I hope you don´t mind, I tried not to overuse it. Well if you are bothered that I used it, tell me that I take it out!
Also thanks to SK on many texturing tips! It helped a lot

This is definitely looking a lot better. The red glow on the mountains around Hraun Vatn are fantastic. Max's fractal technique works really well here too (Max really ought to start writing a few tutorials, I think). It adds an icy/stormy look to the seas, which suits the theme a lot. The islands around Magr Jot are looking better without the lines around them, but I still think they look too evenly spaced and sized, and not as rugged as I presume they are meant to be.

In terms of the other aspects of the map, as I said before, the forests have something wrong with them, but I don't think it is a major problem. If I was you, I probably wouldn't worry about them too much, unless you have spare time.

I don't think you need to worry too much about having empty space on the map. If nothing else, it might help make this place look more desolate. But the mountains you've scattered detract from the overall appearance, in my opinion. Maybe, to help fill the void if you remove those scattered mountains, you could try adding fog or clouds to give it a gloomy atmosphere.

If you are sticking with the photographic appearance for the icons, I don't really know what to suggest, but I wish you luck in finding a good solution.

Decided to follow THW (thanks buddy!), and reworked the trees and the crowned mountais! i think it looks better now! Also I started testing a new kind of mountain, manly around the field of cowards, and liked it very much! Ill probably change all the mountais to this style!